


We Couldn't Be More Different (But I Can't Imagine Life Without You)

by RobinsonsWereHere



Category: Psych
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Introspection, Marriage Proposal, fear of commitment, gus is a great best friend, he had a RING okay how was I SUPPOSED to react to that, if you've read my fluff you know how this is gonna play out, post-episode: s06e09 Neil Simon's Lover's Retreat, some people hear things they shouldn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 20:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18630397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinsonsWereHere/pseuds/RobinsonsWereHere
Summary: After finding the ring in Shawn's DS, Gus has a conversation with his best friend. Shawn is just confused- confused by feelings, confused by Jules, confused by why the hell Gus thinks he has any idea what he's doing. But they talk, and Shawn gets a little less confused.Juliet doesn'tmeanto eavesdrop, but the door to the Psych office makes almost no noise...





	We Couldn't Be More Different (But I Can't Imagine Life Without You)

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Neil Simon's Lover's Retreat, freaked out for a good half hour, tried to remind myself that I had other stuff to write, and then wrote this.

Shawn is tacking a picture of him and Jules in the hot air balloon to the bulletin board behind his desk when Gus walks in and, with absolutely no explanation, throws his arms around him. Shawn reciprocates the hug, albeit with confusion. “Gus? Buddy? What’s going on?”

“You can use my card for vacations anytime you want, Shawn,” Gus sniffles. He sounds close to tears.

“Um, thanks? Are you okay?”

Gus finally lets go of him and, to Shawn’s surprise, hands him his DS. Shawn grins, relieved (proposal or no proposal, rings are expensive) and shakes it a bit just to make sure the ring is still there.

“I am so proud of you, Shawn,” Gus says solemnly.

“What? Why?”

Gus gestures to the DS. “Aren’t you gonna propose to Juliet?”

Shawn grimaces and sits on his desk. “No… not, uh, not yet. We talked- it came up before I actually popped the question, and… I don’t think she wants me to.”

“Do you want to?”

He groans. “Ask me literally any other question.”

“Have your opinions on marriage changed since you started dating Juliet?”

“Dude, what is it with you and making me have actual conversations today?”

“Shawn, you clearly need to talk, even if you don’t want to.”

Shawn groans again and leans back until he’s staring at the ceiling. “I hate it when you’re right.” He tilts his head from side to side, examining a stain on the ceiling. “Well, first off, I would absolutely marry Jules tomorrow if she told me she wanted that. So, yeah, I guess my feelings have changed.” Another dramatic sigh. “Somehow I’m still afraid of commitment, though. Half of me knows Jules is _the one_ and half of me freaks out every time I see her stuff at my place. My brain is weird and annoying.”

“Well, Shawn, I don’t think fear of commitment is something you can just turn off,” Gus offers. “I think you have to work through it. And from what I’ve seen, you and Juliet are doing just that.”

Shawn sits back up, taking apart the DS and letting the silver ring fall into his hand. “Yeah, we are,” he says softly.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Juliet is pretty sure Shawn still has her cell phone (she really needs to find a sundress with pockets) which is a problem, because she sort of needs that for work. She slips into the Psych office through the back door, half expecting Shawn and Gus to be watching movies on the couch. They’re not- she can see Shawn sitting on his desk with his back to her and Gus standing in front of him- but before she can make herself known, she hears what Gus is saying.

“Shawn, it sounds to me like you want to marry her.”

_What?_

“Of course I want to marry her! I want to propose on a beach in the moonlight, I want to stand at the end of an aisle and try not to pass out when I see her in a wedding dress, I want to buy a house and raise a family and have multiple fucking kids! But it’s like I’m ready and not ready at the same time… I don’t fucking know.”

Juliet, reeling, is still moving slowly closer to the cutout in the wall between office and rec space. She sees Shawn fiddling with something in his hands, and when it catches the light, she realizes it’s an engagement ring. _Oh my god._

As if that weren’t enough, in her shock, she’s forgotten that she’s sort-of hiding. She looks up from the ring (and wow, that is a hell of a ring, what she wouldn’t give to wear it right now) and makes direct eye contact with Gus, who looks about as startled and terrified as she feels. Shawn, oblivious to her presence, is still talking.

“Okay, for the third time today, maybe you’re right, Gus. But if I do want to propose, how do I get over how fucking afraid I am? Do I just, I don’t know, rip the bandaid off? Take her somewhere nice and blurt it out before I can talk myself out of it?”

“Uh, Shawn?” Gus’ voice cracks as he continues to stare at Juliet. Shawn finally looks up from the ring.

“What? I’m trying to make a life decision here and you’re staring at a point behind me like the twins from The Shining have appeared?” Gus makes another distressed noise. “What? Who’s behind me?” Juliet can tell the exact moment he figures it out; every muscle in his back tenses and he sits up far too straight. “Jules?”

Conveniently, her vocal cords have stopped working. She manages an affirmative squeak.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Um. Long enough?”

Shawn swivels around, knocking an incredible amount of papers and trinkets off of his desk. He doesn’t seem to mind. “So…”

Juliet stares at him for a long time, taking everything about him in. His darting hazel eyes, the rapid rise and fall of his muscled chest, the way his hands clench at the edge of his desk. She gains one coherent thought from all of this staring. _I love him._ She does. She would relish the opportunity to spend the rest of her life with him. _Who knew, when I walked into that diner years ago, that we’d end up here?_ Swallowing hard, she speaks. “Do you want to get married?”

“Hnestly, I think I do. Do you?”

“Only if it's you I'm marrying.”

Shawn grins. “Fantastic. Amazing. You're amazing. C’mon.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s not dark yet, but I still fully intend to propose on the beach. Gus, come be our photographer!”

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Gus, standing with his polaroid camera in hand, can’t help but get a little emotional as Shawn gets down on one knee. True to his word, he snaps photos, which will all go up on Shawn’s bulletin board of important people and events.

Shawn, a lopsided grin on his face, pulling out the ring, ignoring the lack of velvet box.

Juliet, looking like the happiest woman in the world, despite the tears threatening to fall.

The two of them staring at each other as though each one feels the other puts the stars in the sky, their hands twined, Juliet’s ring visible.

Gus does get one picture of the kissing, of the way Shawn’s fingers curl into the fabric at Juliet’s waist and the way her arms go around his neck and her hands grab at his hair, but when it continues for several minutes, he takes the printed pictures and heads back to the Psych office. They’ll be fine.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||

Back at his apartment, Shawn is removing Juliet’s shirt when she speaks. “How long have you had that ring?”

He runs a hand through her hair and down her neck, playing with the strap of her bra. “Since a little before our vacation.”

She sucks at his neck just enough to make him groan. “Did you have it with you the whole time?”

His ability to form words is rapidly being replaced by the need to have his hands on her skin. “Why do you think I freaked out so much over the nintendo?”

Juliet leans back, letting her hands fall away from him as she laughs. “Seriously? That’s where you hide an engagement ring?”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Shawn mumbles, returning his mouth to her collarbone. He can feel the shiver that runs through her.

“Fair enough,” she gasps. “So, now that we’re engaged, how should we celebrate?”

Shawn stretches over her, propping himself on his forearms and continuing to kiss her. “I’ve got a few ideas.”

Juliet flips them so she’s on top (which is really, _really_ hot) and smirks. “Slumber party and nudey times, indeed.”

“God, I love you.”

Jules return the sentiment by sealing her lips to his in a fiery kiss. Shawn sees no problem with this at all.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! comments and kudos are appreciated!


End file.
